When Your Heart Stops Beating
by evergrnterrace
Summary: ByaRuki. one hundred word drabble per song on the album. For album drabble project on lj.


Artist: +44

**Artist:** +44  
**Album:** When You're Heart Stops Beating…  
**Fandom:** Bleach  
**Pairing:** Kuchiki Rukia X Kuchiki Byakuya

1. "Just Let It Happen."

_I wake up at the end of a long, dark, lonely year  
It's bringing out the worst in me  
I hear your voice start breaking in fear  
When the lights go down  
And I still feel you looking over my shoulder  
Your sinking guilt and approaching nightmare  
And I know none of us will survive_

She turns to face him, knowing already that he's looking back at her. He's always been there, waiting, watching. It occurs to her how strange it is to be lonely with someone always right behind you.

She feels the anxious twist deep in her gut as she turns back to her fate. The opposition is already coming on strong, breaking through Seireitei's forefront. Some have their weapons drawn, some are still only fighting with bare hands.

_'This is the end.'_ she thinks as she watches her fellow shinigami fall. And she knows it is far too late to be changed.

2. "The Past Is Only The Future With The Lights On."

_And all my best friends will be the death of me  
And they won't ever remember, remember  
So please take me far away  
Before I melt into the ground  
And all my words get used against me_

As many times as he replayed those moments in his head, he couldn't quite understand why he had placed law over her life. Why had he allowed some teenaged punk from the living world to take his place? Why hadn't he dropped all else he held important to save her life? Those laws and rules he'd pledged to abide by would be forfeit if her life were lost.

He'd made a pledge to Hisana. He'd broken every vow he'd ever made. He'd made one more with his soul as the bargaining chip to Rukia. "Just come back alive." He'd said.

3. "She'll Never Get Let Down."

_A little more and I'll fall off the planet entirely  
I'll be there when your heart stops beating  
I'll be there when your last breath's taken away  
In the dark, where there's no-one listening  
In the times when we both get carried away  
When we both get carried away_

Byakuya watched as Rukia seemed to glide across the smooth, marble floors. With as ungraceful as she had always seemed, he was quite surprised at how fluidly she moved. He heard a distant chuckle in his mind and allowed himself a small smile. Senbonzakura, it seemed, must approve.  
An arm extended towards the stars, an arm wrapped around her middle; legs twirling in perfect rhythm to a song only they knew the notes to.

Byakuya continued stroking the keys as Rukia continued flowing through the room, his heart beating just a little too fast.

And that was how they fell.

4. "None Of Us Are Strangers Anymore."

_Fall asleep with the windows open  
Come to me with the worst you've said and done  
You'll close your eyes and see me  
A little death makes life more meaningful  
I stand no chance at all_

She promises to never leave; vows to always be by his side. And she asks him his secrets, with heartfelt assurances of acceptance.

He lets loose a small sigh and with a slight tilt to his head he tells her.

She hears tales of love, of loss and the death of his very soul. She hears of his vows to people long dead and how he broke each one. She hears of Senbonzakura's reawakening. Her voice lifting in happiness when the ice surrounding his heart melted into spring. She learns of how she saved him from the emptiness. She smiles.

5. "Love, This Is Getting Harder."

_This is not the time or place for us to speak like this  
And if I had the thought I'd never dream of it  
So dry your hollow eyes and lets go down to the water  
In a different time or place the words could make more sense  
The perfect world, the future wouldn't make a dent  
So dry your hollow eyes and lets go down to the water  
Please, let's not speak, don't breathe a word  
Even though it's the last time_

She started when she felt a smooth hand caress her shoulder. Rukia simply shut her eyes and leaned further into the warm body holding her close.

No words were used; they had no use for them now. They simply were, and it was enough.  
Tomorrow they would head out, in separate directions for separate fates. And this closeness, this silent comfort was something that the both of them had need for.

Byakuya placed a single, soft kiss to the top of her head and she clenched her eyes shut even tighter against the flow of tears that threatened to escape.

6. "Take All You Can From Me."

_The place I used to live, made me feel like a tourist  
I couldn't coexist with the cold and suspicious  
When the last remaining light was starting to filter  
It seemed the perfect time to step into the future  
Your heart is a grave to be perfectly honest_

When I first came to this place, it was nothing near the home I'd imagined. It felt lonely, empty, bereft. It felt like a place for the dead; and it had been. The estates had seen so much death and so little life, it was any wonder we were able to revive her.

But with a little bit of love, a stranger can become family. A funeral can become a birth. An empty shell will become a heart.

That's what he taught me. And that is why I will continue on until there is nothing left to come home to.

7. "I Felt The Future In Your Eyes."

_Dear you, tonight lets get ahead of ourselves  
Cause now, I barely can remember  
Yesterday stretched on for so long  
Tomorrow feels like forever  
My God, you know how much I needed this  
These days are filled with such disaster  
Sometimes I think that life will never be the same  
Sometimes I think that's the answer  
And she said  
Here comes the promise of summer  
Let's seal it with a kiss  
This time I'll do things proper  
How did we get to this?_

The long awaited season change sparked a new life in Seireitei. Street festivals, drinking games, parties galore. There was even a masquerade ball in the Great Kuchiki Estate.  
He'd had her friend design and create the costume she'd wear. Had the most skilled artist create her delicate mask.

He'd hired a painter to capture her beauty, then had it placed in an expensive frame.  
But the way her dark eyes sparkled in sheer delight when the portrait was unveiled, the way she seemed to fly across the room and leapt into his arms. Now that was something he'd cherish forever.

8. Interlude

9. "I never Meant To Say I'm Sorry."

_Yesterday I found my worst regret  
I'll hide it away so no one ever knows  
I'm dying...  
I'm trying to leave  
Let me slip away, I'm barely holding on_

There were only two faces it could have used to make me pause. The face it didn't choose, I would have given my last breath to see, just one more time. I got my wish, but the look in his eyes when I begged for him to just let me go… Was more than I could handle.

Instead of just letting go, dropping off of the cliff as it were, I fought my way back. Just to be by his side. And if he were to ever look at me that way again… with those _eyes_… It would kill me.

10. "You Make A Sound That Feels Like Pain."

_I listen to you cry  
A cry for less attention  
But both my hands are tied  
And I'm pushed into the deep end _

He hears her at night, through the thin walls of her room. She's muffled and broken and he's hard pressed not to comfort her. But he knows, he can't help her with this. This she did with her own hands, her own heart. And this she must face alone.

He feels as though he's breaking; The sound of delicate things breaking, her mournful pleas for release, they hurt him in a way he's never experienced. They twist in a place he had thought long frozen.

He hopes that she'll allow him to love her. And he hopes it'll never end.

11. "Don't."

_Please don't, don't make me sleep alone  
If I could, I'd only want to make you smile  
If you were to stay with me a while_

Though he can see the differences as clearly as if they weren't connected, he's still concerned that she will leave him the same way Hisana had. So he pushes her away for as long as she'd let him.

When she comes to him at night, he shows her all of the things he feels, but in the mornings he is always the same as he's been.

She tries to prove him wrong, to stay out of trouble. She always fails, but vows to never leave him.

When she goes to him at night, she shows him what they could be.

12. "Pull You Close To My Aching Skin."

_My best-laid plans  
Will build and break your heart  
Her guilty hands  
Tear my whole world apart  
My mind keeps racing  
She's softly dreaming  
I'm scraped and sober  
But there's no one listening_

She loved him. And he loved her. There had never been anything more simple or complex in the world. Neither could explain or understand, but they would both tell you the exact same thing. It just was.

If you peek into their living room window, you'll see what the poets write about; what the artists try to capture with their hands. And it will make you ache for something you've never had quite so forcefully before.

But they went through a lot of hardships for this love. They've fought wars, wasted years, lived through conspiracy. It nearly killed them both.


End file.
